Building Site Security - recession means sites even more vulnerable to crime

Theft and crime on building sites is set to increase.  Evidence from past recessions suggests crime will increase - and building sites with their high value raw materials, plant and machinery are now more likely than ever to experience criminal activity.

Having studied previous recessions and downturns and their effect on crime, The Home Office has already issued blunt warnings that the credit crunch is likely to see an overall rise in crime figures with theft and burglary figures showing large increases.  The Home Office has pointed to evidence from the 1992 recession which saw sharp rises in serious crime of 19 per cent.

Richard Lang, Managing Director of building and construction site security specialists Tag Guard Ltd, comments, “Our control room, which monitors incidents at the hundreds of sites that now have our wireless security systems in place, has certainly experienced a steady but noticeable increase in alarm activations and CCTV incidents, with no less than 60 separate occasions, just in the last 12 months, where police have actually been called to the scene – in most cases leading to arrests.

“Just in the last two weeks a Tag Guard wireless alarm system was activated by intruders on a development in Bootle on Merseyside belonging to one of our clients, Sanderson Construction Ltd, – in this incident a police helicopter was sent in pursuit of the fleeing criminals and all three were eventually apprehended.

“Building sites with their high value equipment and raw materials left lying around, often unattended for long periods, are clearly highly vulnerable and we believe contractors, developers and site owners will need to take more action against a rising crime wave during this recession”.